Read the full book on the history of vinegar, Vinegar, The Eternal Condiment available on Amazon!
My article on the history of malt vinegar appeared in the 113th issue of Petits Propos Culinaires published by Prospect Books. Download below. Please cite as:
Smith, RD (2019). From Alegar to Sarson’s: A History of Malt Vinegar. Petits Propos Culinaires, 113, 95-119.
Additional recipes and info on malt vinegar are here
2 Comments on “From Alegar to Sarson’s: A History of Malt Vinegar”
Almost every single brand of Malt Vinegar (including Sarsons and every single Supermarket branded version) lists the ingredients of it as “Barley Malt Vinegar” and “Barley Malt Extract” so i was just wondering if you knew about this? I never heard of this ingredient before? After checking the ingredients list online of eighteen different brands i have only found one (Aspall) without it! So it is in almost all of them! What exactly is the “Barley Malt Extract” in all of them? What is the purpose of adding this “Barley Malt Extract” and what does it do?
Hi, Barley Malt Extract is basically a sweetener, a syrup made from malted barley. When the barley is malted and mashed, it is a sugary liquid (wort) which is usually then pitched with yeast to make ale and then vinegar. Some of this wort though can be boiled down to have the sugars concentrated and used as a sweetener like corn syrup or cane syrup. It is used to add sweetness and flavor to malt vinegar.